True Friends

There comes a point when a friend is no longer just a friend, they become family. I experienced that this football season. I would always get very nervous before, and sometimes during football games. Sometimes especially before to the point where I thought I was going to get sick. Not nervous for physical contact, nervous I’d miss my block, or nervous they’d blitz two into my gap. Towards the end of the season the nerves changed to “will this be the last day as a Raider” or “will this be the last time I strap of my cleats, and put on my helmet and shoulder pads.” Wow, the nerves would eat me alive. I had a hard time focusing in school on game days. Too much would be going through my mind throughout the day. Instead of being at school, mentally I would already be trying to prepare for the game. That’s what mattered, is winning the game. I will have another day of school, but that game later or tomorrow could be my very last football game. Football is a game of uncertainty. Uncertainty of what is to come. What defense will they run, what will they do on offense, are they blitzing. Most of all, uncertain if you’ve just played your last snap of football. One injury and the majority of your season is gone. One season ending injury and your season is over. Cherish it while it lasts. I will forever be thankful for long time friend Redmun. He and I had drifted apart a little during junior year when we didn’t have any sports together. The bond we have shared so far this year is greater than anything I could have imagined. We have that guard-tackle bond. He was the one during games that would calm me down if he could tell I was upset. He told me he could see it in my eyes. I’m still astonished how, yet my mother has always told me I’m a very readable person. So him being able to tell by my eyes. I’ll never forget after my final football game as a Raider, with those pads and that helmet on he was one of the many trying to comfort me. He gave me a great big hug and kept reassuring me everything would be okay and that we had a good season. Surpassing everyone’s expectations for our team. If you read this. Thank you for all of your help this season. Love you brother.

As far as helping a friend, I think the strongest memory of helping a friend would probably be always being there for someone I’ve been friends with since I moved here in fourth grade. Him and I have had our ups and downs, yet we have stuck by each other for eight years. I’ve helped him in sports. We’ve been playing baseball together since I moved here, and we played football together for two years. I’ve helped him breakup with girls, unfortunately because of how nice he is girls often do him wrong. Everyone is always looking to take advantage of a nice person. I’ve helped Casey pick up girls, you name it. In fact, I helped Casey get together with his girlfriend Emily. Emily was very resistant to spending time with Casey at first. It took a lot of persistent “hey you should hangout with Casey” from not only me, but also from Emily’s best friend. It appears my efforts paid off though. Now, they are inseparable. If you see Emily you know Casey can’t be far behind, and vise versa. I think by now Casey Baby (his mom calls him that) knows or should know I would do just about anything for him. Fun fact, Casey is also family. Literally family. Him and I are second or third cousins. So yes it is distant family, but you’d never know it with how close we are.

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